


Mirror Story - Severus

by Author_Person



Series: Mirror Story [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:08:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26546518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Author_Person/pseuds/Author_Person
Summary: Severus sees Harry’s memories of the Dursley’s abuse and does something about it.~~~~~~A story told from two perspectives.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape
Series: Mirror Story [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930408
Comments: 14
Kudos: 164





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer  
> Don’t own the characters, not making money. 
> 
> Content Warning  
> Contains: Underage Sex (eventually,) and naughty language.

Severus strides blank-faced through the halls of Hogwarts. Inside he is raging. Inside his head he is tearing through every last conversation he’s had with Albus for the last fourteen years. Looking for the tell. There has to have been one. No one is that good. He knows that for damned certain. He finds nothing. Begins his search again.

He reaches the gargoyle, growls out the idiotic password, and stands seething on the spiral stairs as they rise.

He doesn’t knock. Bursting into the room like the wrath of god he strides robes snapping behind him to the bastard’s desk, slams his palms upon it, and leans into the man’s face. Until he can see every wrinkle, every sunspot.

“Ah, Severus, my dear boy, how did Harry’s first occlumency lesson go?”

“Don’t start. Don’t you dare pretend for a second longer that you’re concerned for the boy’s safety.”

“Of course I’m concerned for his safety, Severus. What did you see that has you so distressed?”

“I saw his so called _family_ , Albus. I saw the monsters who raised him. The ones _you_ left him with. You assured me, I don’t know how many times, that he was well cared for. You lied to me. You. _Lied_. To. Me.”

Severus watches as the old man crumbles before his eyes. Doesn’t buy it. He’s never really bought his grandfatherly persona. No one truly benevolent refuses to protect their own people in order to coerce someone into helping them after all.

“The boy had to stay with his family, Severus, Lily’s sacrifice would only, will only, continue protecting the boy while he calls that house home.”

“Somehow, Albus, I doubt he has ever considered that place a _home_. I doubt he even has a reference point for the word. You made me fail in my _Vow_ , Albus. I am lucky to be alive.”

He starts to say he’ll be unable to survive if he lets the boy stay there. It would mean knowingly violating the damned thing. But, at the last second he realizes that might very well be a deadly mistake. He has to treat Albus like an enemy. Keep his cards close to his chest. If the man is truly unwilling to have the boy moved from those people then he will have to make Albus believe he has won, that he bows to Albus’ greater judgement, and that he won’t fight the boy’s placement. And then he’ll have to work behind the scenes and find a way out for the boy or die trying. He’ll be dead either way.

“I truly regret the boy’s suffering, Severus, and your own. I’ve only ever wanted the both of you to be happy, but the boy isn’t safe from Voldemort if he leaves his family.”

A subtle threat but a threat nonetheless. Albus knows damn well his mark burns whenever the name is spoken in his presence. He could easily have called the man Tom, but no he needed to remind him he could easily have him sent to Azkaban if he doesn’t stay in line.

Albus is now on the opposite side of the board. A king directing his pawns while staying safe behind the cannon fodder. This won’t be an easy fight even from the shadows.

“Albus, you know I cannot leave it like this, that boy could very well be killed by his relatives the next time he goes back to them. If you truly want me to be your spy, you need to help me fulfill my Vow. Have the guards posted next summer keep an eye on his situation with his relatives, please, for my peace of mind if nothing else.”

“Of course, Severus, a quite ingenious solution. I’m sure it will make Harry feel safer as well. Now if there was nothing else?”

Leaving Albus’ office Severus congratulated himself on surviving the first battle. Now he only has to worry about the war.

~~~~~~

Gringotts is busier than usual today and he’s glad he opted to use a glamour, he lopes into the main hall of the bank with a favoring of his left leg. Remembers to slouch his shoulders just so. He’s left so many students terrified of his mere presence that he can’t trust a simple disguise without also changing his stance and gait. He’d known it would inconvenience him in the future when he went back to spying but he wasn’t about to let the little idiots blunder about in his classroom and end up maimed or dead.

The goblins see right through his act and he thanks Merlin they’re neutral right now. He knows very well the magical world as a whole will be truly fucked when the goblins decide they’ve had enough bullshit from them.

“I need to see the goblin in charge of the Potter accounts.”

The goblin stares at him suspiciously for a moment. He radiates urgency and desperation he knows. He’s already had Lucius look through the laws at the ministry, very quietly, and nothing there will see him able to help the boy. If the goblins don’t have something he’ll have to abduct the boy and run. Not necessarily a bad plan but not ideal.

“Follow Bloodfang.”

“Thank you.”

Moments later he’s sitting in front of a desk in an office. He’s never been in one of the Gringotts offices. It looks about like he’d expect. He admires a particularly vicious looking battle axe. Pictures himself taking it to Harry’s uncle, can’t decide if it would be able to slice through enough of the man’s bulk to deal a death wound. Perhaps a mace would be better, a nice blow to the head...

“Greetings Mr. Snape, I am Turek, and I manage the Potter accounts. How can I help you?”

“I need to know if there is anything that can be done here at the bank to permanently transfer his custody. I have already looked into the ministry and there is nothing there that will help.”

“Why, are you looking into this? You are neither his guardian nor his head of house. And why do you feel he is in need of a new guardian?”

“I swore a Vow, to protect him and I have unknowingly been failing in it. The boy is mistreated by his relatives and Albus Dumbledore insists he return to them.”

“I see, we cannot facilitate the transfer of the boy’s guardianship.”

Well abduction it is. Now, wait until the end of the school year, or try for sooner in case something goes wrong?

“However...”

Severus snaps back to full attention. To find the goblin flipping through pieces of parchment of various ages. Some positively ancient.

“Yes..?”

“There is a possibility, but you may not like it.”

The goblin slides a parchment across the desk toward him. He picks it up, scans it and

“Mr. Snape?”

“You cannot be serious.”

“It is the only currently fulfillable marriage contract we have on file that wouldn’t pair him with another minor thereby changing nothing about his guardianship. This is all we have.”

“But I’m not even a Prince!”

“Not at the moment. No.”

“So you’re saying that I could become a Prince?”

“You would simply need to put on the ring and accept your role as head of the Prince family. You would not have to change your name. Although that contract does require one of your children to bear it.”

“Children.”

“I suggest you read all the clauses before you make your decision.”

“Indeed.”

~~~~~~

Severus finds himself a few hours later sitting in Spinner’s End. He’s wearing an absolute monstrosity of a ring on his finger and contemplating asking Harry Potter to marry him. What even happened to his life? Is this just some fever dream brought on by a potions experiment gone wrong? How would this even work? So he and Harry could get married, oh god, and then Albus would simply have him killed or arrested before next summer. One less pawn on the board.

What was he thinking? Why even wear the fucking thing if it won’t help him protect the boy? Fuck. Bloody buggering fuck.

Okay new plan he and Harry get hitched, they announce it to the world, proper media blitz, convince everyone they’re madly in love. It would be lot harder for Albus to have him thrown in Azkaban if the public liked the idea of him and Harry together. Him being Harry’s professor, the fact they used to loathe one another. The public would lap that shit up. But if Albus can’t have him chucked in Azkaban would he kill him? Not personally no, but with a whispered word in the right ear he wouldn’t need to. He certainly could, but would he? Is he worrying about nothing?

There’s always abduction. But if Lily’s death proved anything it’s that living on the run simply isn’t sustainable in the long run. All it takes is one tiny mistake. Trusting the wrong person. Pettigrew. If he does end up abducting the boy he isn’t leaving without killing that spineless rat.

~~~~~~

He can’t believe he’s actually doing this. He must be mad. Utterly, hopelessly, mad.

“Potter, detention.”

“What? I didn’t do anything!”

“Would you like to make it a week?”

The boy’s glare is impressive, he’ll give him that. Completely, entirely, insane.

~~~~~~

“Tonight’s detention is going to be a little different. Come.”

He leads him to his office, shows him the boxes of records of student wrongdoings, tells him to begin copying them.

Once he’s done a few and they’ll not look as suspicious if someone barges in, he interrupts.

“You can stop that for now, but if anyone comes makes yourself look busy, understood?”

“Sir?”

“I gave you detention for a reason, Potter, and it wasn’t to make your life difficult. I have something I need to talk to you about and you will listen to every word I have to say without interrupting if you can help it, though I doubt that very much.”

He waits momentarily but the boy remains silent. Waits calmly but visibly bewildered. He thinks this will never work. The boy can’t hide his emotions to save his life. Madness. Shakes his head. He’s already chosen his path now he must only walk it.

“In our occlumency lessons I have seen some things, no don’t interrupt, I have seen things about your home life that are disturbingly similar to my own childhood. _No_. Not one word until I am through. Yes, I had a shite childhood not unlike your own. My father was an abusive drunk, my mother though she could have saved us both, chose not to. I hated them both. I had, for many years, not a single friend in the world. I was poor and dressed in secondhand clothes.”

“When I was eight I came across a pair of sisters in the park. One of them was magical. In every sense of the word. I fell in love with her immediately. We became friends. I taught her everything I knew about magic. We went to Hogwarts together and were placed in different houses. She became a Gryffindor and her fellow lions didn’t like her friendship with me but she was fierce and stayed my friend anyway until fifth year when I, I ruined our friendship in a moment of thoughtless anger and though I begged for her forgiveness she never did grant it. I do not blame her for it, she saw the path I was headed down and was trying to turn me from it.”

Severus’ throat closes up and he’s forced to swallow convulsively. Fuck. This is worse than he’d thought it would be.

“She was my sister in all but blood and I as good as killed her. I was a death eater by then and I overheard part of a prophecy and like the _good little death eater_ I was, I carried the news back to my master. The part that I heard was: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.”

“You, you were the reason...”

Severus falls back against his desk. Hangs his head down unable to face those green eyes for a second longer.

“I killed my own best friend. Lily.”

Neither of them say anything for a long moment. But Severus isn’t anywhere near done. As much as he’d like to go crawl in bed and forget the world for a while he has to continue. For her. For her son. For Harry.

“When I realized the Dark Lord would be targeting her I went to him and begged him to spare her..”

“That’s why!”

“What?”

“When the dementors get near I hear that night. He tried to tell her to stand aside but she wouldn’t listen. She, she just kept begging him to kill her instead.”

“Of course she did. I knew she would, but, I had to try. The Dark Lord promised he would spare her but I didn’t believe him. I went to Dumbledore and pleaded for him to hide them, to save them, they were members of his order it was his duty to protect them.”

“He tried didn’t he?”

“He demanded to know what I would do in exchange!”

“He, that’s, that’s awful.”

“I told him I would do anything, anything if he would only save your mother. And he judged me for not begging for your life and your fathers’. For a man who tormented me and a child I’d never met. Anyway. He tried, he failed. Lily, died, and I. I was devastated. I went to Dumbledore, I fell apart, and he demanded that I protect you because you are all that’s left of her. I reluctantly agreed. I swore an Unbreakable Vow..”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an unbreakable vow Mr. Potter. If I knowingly break it, I die.”

“You, wait, you swore to protect me and if you don’t, you die?”

“Precisely.”

“But, why would you, why would anyone do that?”

“I was suicidal at the time.”

“Oh.”

“The important thing is that I have unknowingly been breaking the Vow these last fourteen years. Now that I know about your home life, if I allow you to be returned there, I will die.”

“But Dumbledore won’t allow me _not_ to go back.”

“I know. I have been trying to find a way to work around him for weeks now.”

“And?”

“You won’t like it.”

“Great. Way to sell it to me. Just tell me.”

Severus knows he’s going to live to regret this, but he deserves to have some fun every now and again.

“Harry James Potter, will you marry me?”

“You, what, you, you’re joking, right?”

“It’s one of two options.”

“And the other.”

“Abduction. We run. And keep running, for as long as we can. Somehow I doubt we’d last very long.”

“No, I imagine that Dumbledore’s got ways of finding people. So. Marriage.”

Severus finds himself blinking in shock.

“Was that a yes?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, yeah. Let’s get married.”

~~~~~~

Later that night Severus finds himself going over the plan yet again. Trying to find any flaws. He and Harry had spent two hours hashing out the details, he was pleasantly surprised to find the boy to be less of an idiot than he’d thought. The boy came up with a few good ideas.

The next few days are going to be chaos.

~~~~~~

Severus strides into the Great Hall, robes billowing behind him, a vicious smirk upon his face. He stops behind a certain brat at the Gryffindor table.

“Potter, detention, don’t be late.”

“Oi, what’d he do?”

“He, knows what he did, Mr. Weasley, never you fear. Don’t you, Mr. Potter?”

Harry looks up at him sullen and angry. Good the boy can act at least a little.

“Yes...Sir.”

Tacking the sir on the end like an afterthought. Nice touch. He’ll have to compliment the boy later. Which’ll probably shock him nicely. Should be amusing.

“Watch your tone, Potter, or I may just give you another weeks worth. Five points from Gryffindor.”

And scene, and cut. So far so good. He hears the boy’s friends interrogating him as he leaves. Hopes the boy maintains the lie well enough.

~~~~~~

They enter Gringotts with no disguises, after today it will be beneficial for others to remember seeing them together. Especially if they notice how close they’re walking and the way that Harry keeps leaning in close to whisper to him.

They’re escorted to Turek’s office without even having to ask. Turek and Severus wait patiently for Harry to read through the marriage contract.

“Kids! You never said anything about kids. How’s that supposed to work?”

“Adoption, you nitwit.”

“Hey, magic remember. You can’t blame me for wanting to make sure I’m not supposed to squeeze out a couple of kids. Also is that common a two child requirement? ‘Cause other that the Weasley’s I’m not sure I’ve ever met another magical family with more than one kid and none of them have adopted any.”

“Yes, it’s quite common, Harry, but for opposite sex couples the requirement is for biological children not adopted.”

“Oh. That seems weird. But anyway I’ve read the thing, now do I just sign it on the line or are there other details to go over first?”

“There certainly are other details to go over Mr. Potter, Mr. Snape. We need to know if, once you are married, you will be combining your vaults.”

Severus looks to Harry who shrugs.

“I do not foresee a problem combining them but I do not know the details of the Potter accounts. What would you recommend Turek?”

“Both of your houses accounts have lain dormant for years. They are both in need of a great deal of maintenance. Which would likely be complicated by combining them. I would recommend waiting until they are somewhat recovered. However that might lead to the impression that your marriage is less than loving. A compromise would be to set up a temporary joint account.”

Severus looks to Harry and lets Turek know that they’ll go with the temporary joint account.

They sign the marriage contract. They leave hand in hand. It feels distinctly odd but they manage to make it look natural.

~~~~~~

Back at Hogwarts they begin planning phase two.

“You know we’ll have to be seen kissing right?”

The boy looks terrified and Severus hopes he’s not about to be his first kiss.

“Have you even kissed anyone, Harry?”

That cringing face. There’s a story there, and not a pleasant one.

“Once.”

“We’ll definitely need to practice then.”

“...”

“That means now, husband mine, we are on a tight schedule.”

“I, don’t you find this weird?!”

“Yes.”

“But you’re so calm and cool about it! You act like you kiss men all the time!”

Severus laughs. He can’t stop it. He laughs for a good long while. Just when he’s winding down he catches sight of Harry’s expression, flabbergasted, and finds himself laughing anew.

“Sorry, I’m, sorry, I just, I do kiss men all the time Mr. Potter. I am entirely gay.”

“Is that why you wanted this rather than running away?”

“First of all, Harry, you aren’t _that_ pretty, and second you forget the part where we’d be running away together. If I wanted to seduce you that would’ve been the ideal situation. The two of us stuck together, isolated from everyone else, a high stress situation. You’re quite safe from me, I am not a rapist.”

“I never said, I just, wasn’t expecting that, okay? I don’t have a problem with it, at all. But are you sure the kissing and stuff won’t be a problem for you? I don’t want you to end up wanting something impossible.”

“I’ll be fine, Harry. Don’t worry. Now come over here and kiss me. And make it believable.”

~~~~~~

Severus doesn’t understand what the hell that was. The boy seemed fine for a moment while they were kissing but then he just fell apart. Is it that weird kissing someone you aren’t attracted to? He’s never kissed a woman but he can’t see it being that awful. Lips are lips, right? At any rate it took hours after that to get the boy up to a reasonable level of believability in his touches. Honestly the awkwardness kind of works in the boy’s favor. Teenagers are supposed to be awkward.

The next day they’ll be doing the interview. With Rita Skeeter of all people. A beetle animagus. Sounds about right.

~~~~~~

“I’d ask how you met, but I suppose we already know that don’t we?”

“Yep. My first potions class, he was a git.”

“And you are a brat. But yes I did treat you badly. I was convinced you’d be just like your father.”

“Who I never knew.”

“I never said it was logical.”

Harry leans into his space and smirks mischievously up at him like he just re-won an argument won many times before. It’s so convincing he almost believes it. Could see them having this argument again and again down the years. God no, back Severus, back. That is not a path you want to go down. That way true madness lay.

“Well, that covers that question, tell me how did you go from hating each other to this?”

“Weell, Severus here...”

Severus listens to him weave their tale trying to forget those traitorous thoughts. Jumps in when it’s his turn.

“And as soon as I saw those memories I was overcome with guilt, I realized his childhood was actually quite similar to my own. I considered just trying to treat him better in future, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. I knew I had to apologize and attempt to make up for my previous behavior somehow, if for no other reason, then because Lily would have my hide one day if I didn’t.”

“Lily, as in Lily Potter?”

“Mmhm, Severus here, was best friends with my mum which he never bothered telling me for the first few years we knew each other. I mean I came to school never even having seen a picture of her...”

“You what?”

Severus has been holding the guilt for his past behavior at bay, but now the dam has burst. Fuck. He never knew what he’d been denying the boy. Damn everything. He feels a hand squeezing his.

“I guess I never mentioned that, huh, it’s fine, Severus, you didn’t know. You’re making up for it now, love.”

And now he’s being kissed and he’s drowning, he knows he is. He told the boy he could handle it. But he lied. He lied.

There’s a camera flash.

“That’ll get us the front page, boys. That was perfect. Now what about the time...”


	2. Chapter 2

Severus sits in his quarters that night staring into the fire. He doesn’t know what to do. How can he be this attracted to the boy already? It’s only been a few days. He can’t put a stop to this, but he _needs_ to put a stop to this.

Tomorrow. The news will be splashed across the front page tomorrow.

~~~~~~

He gets up earlier than usual in the morning. Skeeter will be sending them advance copies of the article.

He walks to his desk where the house elves leave his mail, fishes the letter out of the pile, and opens it.He almost drops it in his shock. Shit.

The photo accompanying it is the one of their kiss. He’d hoped Skeeter would pick one slightly less intimate. It really sells the article, but damn.

Like all magical photos it’s a moving image. It captures the two of them kissing but then they pull apart and Severus, well he looks entirely besotted. He hopes Harry just thinks he’s a flawless actor, or this is going to get very awkward very fast. How is this his life now?

~~~~~~

He strides into the Great Hall feeling as if all eyes are going to be on him in spite of the fact the paper won’t arrive for an hour yet. If this is how Harry feels all the time he can see why he hates his fame.

He’s walking straight to the head table without planning to stop and then he sees him. Sitting alone at the Gryffindor table. They didn’t plan anything for this morning for before the papers arrival and he should keep walking but he thinks to himself. Fuck it. That’s my husband and I’m damn well going to kiss him if I want to.

He stalks over to the Gryffindor table. He probably looks angry. Harry seems to sense his approach and looks up a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. He stops beside him.

“Harry, good morning.”

There’s only a few other students at the Gryffindor table this early in the morning, he can feel, and see,them all gaping at him. He feels like he’s flying without a broom for the first time all over again. Harry rises to the occasion as per usual.

“Good morning, Severus, sleep well?”

“Not hardly. I missed my husband beside me.”

“Oh?”

“Come here, brat.”

Harry gets up smirking a bit and leans into his personal space. Severus wraps his arms around the impossible boy and kisses him for all he’s worth. When he pulls back the boy is gasping just a little, flushed, and looks like a feather could knock him over.

“I expect you’ll be in our bed tonight, hm?”

The boy reaches up and trails his fingers feather light down his cheek.

“There’s no place I’d rather be, my love.”

He floats to the head table, hardly noticing the whispering students, or the gaping staff. He’s so very glad Albus made him teach the boy occlumency.

~~~~~~

Minerva is apoplectic with joy. She’s never been so happy. Apparently she never thought he’d get off his arse and find someone. He just might get off his arse and strangle the bothersome old biddy.

He does not glance continuously at the green eyed imp. He does not.

Finally the papers are here. Now maybe the students who were late arriving to breakfast will believe their peers and they’ll all stop arguing. If they realized he could hear them from where he’s sitting he has a suspicion they’d all piss themselves. He’s tempted to tell them.

Spit-takes. There are literal spit-takes. And if he’s not mistaken Weasley is choking. Ms. Granger saves the day again. It says something about the boy’s eating habits that she felt the need to learn that spell.

Ridiculous. They’re all ridiculous. He’s going to collect his husband and squirrel him away for an hour of peace. He has a feeling the boy could use it, and his first class is Transfiguration, somehow he has a feeling Minerva won’t mind him skipping today.

“Minerva, I wonder if you’d allow my husband to be excused from your class today? I have a feeling he’ll need it.”

He waves his hand lazily at the interrogation the poor boy is enduring, even from his friends, the little arseholes.

“Of course, Severus, you go enjoy yourself.”

“I have classes to teach, as you well know. I merely wish to prevent my husband from being overwhelmed by his well-wishers. Have a good day, Minerva.”

“And you as well.”

He heads for the Gryffindor table, happy that Albus was absent from breakfast today, even if it is only delaying the inevitable. He would’ve liked to have seen the man’s face when he saw the article though.

“Harry, my dear, if you would.”

“Gladly, you lot go can get your questions answered later, except for you two, I’m never answering those questions. Stop asking.”

Severus looked at Harry questioningly once they were out of the hall.The boy blushed and mumbled something and he had to wait for the boy to repeat it intelligibly.

“They wanted to know which of us topped, and stuff like that. Just. None of their business, nosy bastards.”

“Indeed. You have Minerva’s permission to skip class today. And also I got the impression, eternal gratitude.”

“She what?”

“According to her she despaired of my ever finding happiness and I quote.”

“I had no idea you two were close.”

“You’ve no idea. She plays a mean game of chess, even when drunk, maybe even especially when drunk, or it could be that I usually am as well.”

“You seem happy, are you always chatty when you’re happy?”

Severus gives him his best glare. It makes no difference. The brat just continues smiling.

“So would you like to spend the hour in our quarters?”

“Oh yes! They’re driving me mad. I knew they’d be a bit obnoxious about it. But. Ugh. They’re being so annoying.”

“Do you see now why I despise them all?”

“You don’t. You just like to pretend you do. I see right through you.”

“Indeed?”

“Mmhm.”

~~~~~~

Once hidden from prying eyes Severus wasn’t sure how to behave. He wanted to kiss the boy, he was terrified that this morning had been nothing but a very convincing act on Harry’s part. He clears his throat but Harry beats him to it.

“So you called these _our_ quarters, we uh, we never discussed that.”

Shit.

“I wasn’t going to suggest it but it slipped out and...”

“And it would look weird if we didn’t want to live together, yeah.”

“There’s a guest bedroom, we wouldn’t be sharing a bed.”

“I wouldn’t mind that, so long as it’s only sleeping, I’m not ready for anything more...”

Severus stares at him. Harry seems like he didn’t mean to mumble that last bit loud enough to hear. He throws caution to the wind. Steps forward crowding into the boy’s space, combs his hand through the boy’s hair, and encourages him to tilt his head back farther. And kisses him with the whole of his being. Harry is giving as good as he gets, they’re wrapped round each other tighter than tight. The bell rings for class and they break apart.

“So earlier in the Hall, that wasn’t entirely for show?”

“No, yeah, that was, more than just an act, Severus.”

Severus gives him a small genuine smile.

“I need to go. Make yourself at home. It is now. Your home, too.”

“See you later, and _Severus_ , try not to kill them.”

“No guarantees, Harry.”

~~~~~~

Harry may have been joking about him killing the students, but he’s starting to find himself sorely tempted. If one more student uses that vile word in his hearing he will tattoo it, permanently, on the their forehead. He needs a drink.

“Faggot.”

He whirls round wand raised and finds his wrist caught in an iron grip.

“Let me handle this, love.”

Harry looks to him and asks permission with his eyes. He appreciates that he’s waiting for permission. He’s not sure he wants to let Harry make enemies of his fellow students but, he can’t bring himself to refuse him.

“Be my guest, brat.”

“You know the muggles have done in depth studies on homophobia and they found that those who are the most homophobic are secretly attracted to the same sex themselves. It’s their own shame that drives them to lash out. So tell me do you have anything to share with the class?”

“I’m not a fag like you, Potter!”

“Really, ‘cause the more you insult me like that the more it makes me wonder. Look I don’t care if you insult me for my preferences and neither does my husband. If we were ashamed of who we are we would not have announced it to the world. We don’t get hurt when you say mean things. But others do. Other little boys and girls who are gay or bi hear you saying rude things about me and _they_ get hurt. I don’t like it when others get hurt. I tend to make the one who hurt them regret it. So, keep saying those things if you want, just keep in mind actions have consequences. Also another thing to keep in mind is if you’re that scared of gay people you should be more inviting to us. You should want us to feel safe enough to come out. I mean you can’t avoid us if you don’t know who we are, right? You’ve no idea how many people have let me know today that they won’t be coming anywhere near me ever again and last week those same people would’ve gladly spent time with me.”

“C’mon, Severus, lets go home.”

~~~~~~

Severus waits till they get inside to talk about it.

“Been wanting to say that all day have we?”

“Hardly. It took me most of the day to sort through everything enough to know what I wanted to say. I mean I’ve been thinking about it a lot today, the Dursleys were always super homophobic and I think I drank that poison in without even realizing it, ‘cause I was convinced I was straight right up until the first time we kissed. Seriously one second straight boy awkwardly about to kiss a man, next second gay boy having one hell of a rude awakening. Felt like my entire life had been a lie. Like even when I was four or five, and I was still in the girls are gross stage, I was still imagining being a knight and rescuing a princess, not a prince. I just wish. I wish I’d been able to be myself my whole life. Like I didn’t feel like I’ve missed out on years of being happy in my own skin.”

“We cannot change the past, but, you didn’t notice, you were too busy tearing that boy’s worldview to shreds, but there were a few boys in that hall that looked like they too wanted to say something similar. We cannot go back and teach our younger selves that it’s okay to rescue a prince, but perhaps we can our children.”

“Do you want children, or, I mean, we have to have children to fulfill the contract except we could easily break it once I’m of age and I don’t want to adopt children if we don’t both want them but...”

“Breathe Harry. I take it you want children.”

Harry nods his head jerkily and Severus pictures it. A small cottage in the middle of a large garden, Harry teaching the children to fly, while he teaches them to brew. It’s a beautiful picture. But.

“I do not feel comfortable with the idea of adopting a child in the middle of a war, rather selfish, I know, but the idea of taking in a child only to risk losing them. I love the idea of children, but only if this war is over and done.”

“Really?”

“Mm.”

~~~~~~

He finds himself curling up on the couch with the boy later that evening, just enjoying each other’s company. He’s absently stroking his fingers across Harry’s hand when he feels something strange. He holds his hand up to the light and gasps.

“Harry, what is this?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s from detention with Umbridge. It used to heal each time, but. Now it doesn’t.”

Harry shrugs like it’s nothing but Severus is boiling with rage, that bitch. He gets up and walks to his library begins searching for the book he needs, it’s here somewhere, ah yes. He begins flipping through pages looking for the one he wants.

“Severus, you can’t poison her.”

“I think you’ll find that I _can_.”

“Seriously, put the book back on the shelf, you’d be the number one suspect if she ended up poisoned anyway. You’d be better off hitting her with a tripping jinx in a crowded hallway. Everyone would be a suspect.”

Severus closes the book with a snap.

“I know the students hate her but to murder her? What makes you say that, Harry? Has she done this to other students?”

“Yeah, lots of them, some were little firsties.”

“Yet you _don’t_ want me to kill her?”

“I don’t want you to end up in Azkaban!”

“There are undetectable poisons.”

They ended up in a staring match. Which quickly turned into Harry glaring angrily at him, and Severus glaring back confusedly, trying to figure the boy out. Harry huffed, threw up his arms, and left.

He finds Harry on the couch in the living room, bent over with his head in his hands.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought, I thought you’d changed.”

“Changed from what?”

“That night, in the shrieking shack, you were determined to see Sirius get the kiss even after you found out he was innocent.”

“He was _never_ innocent!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, and your father, tormented me in school. I couldn’t walk down a single hall without their finding me and hexing me. Four against one, not good odds is it? But I gave as good as I got most of the time. But they, they were always there, I cannot tell you how many times I ended up in the hospital wing bloody, bruised, and with broken bones, but if you listen to Albus or Black, they were just pranks. Harmless little things meant to make children laugh. They laughed all right. They laughed while your father stripped me in front of a crowd of students while your godfather cheered him on. That man might not have betrayed your parents but to my eyes twelve years in Azkaban isn’t enough to make up for the years of hell he put me though. Because I was poor and a Slytherin.”

“I, I’m sorry, Severus, I didn’t know. I can’t understand why they, why _anyone_ would be that cruel.”

“But you still don’t believe I was justified in wanting to see him kissed.”

“In case you’ve forgotten I almost was kissed that night, I don’t believe _anyone_ deserves that.”

Severus pinches the bridge of his nose and breathes in sharply. He _had_ forgotten that for the moment. The very idea of that happening to Harry. Shit.

“I had forgotten, I apologize. Though we have strayed a bit from our original topic.”

“Yeah, I just don’t think you should be focused on revenge all the time, Severus. If this marriage is going to go anywhere at all we need to focus on creating a future together, not avenging past hurts. Does that make sense?”

“I understand what you are saying, butpart of the future I want to create involves the students in this school not being tortured. If this is the only way to be sure she is removed...”

“You are the most Slytherin Slytherin I know, are you seriously telling me you can’t find another way?”

“You’re trying to manipulate _me_?

Harry just shrugs at him and Severus can’t find it in himself to be truly annoyed. He supposes he could arrange to remove her another way.

~~~~~~

That night they share a bed for the first time. It less uncomfortable that he’d thought it would be, but still awkward. They lie there still and silent. Severus wonders why Harry wanted this rather than simply sleeping in the guest room. The boy has been sharing a dorm room for a few years now. Perhaps he simply needs the sound of others sleeping beside him to drift off himself. Severus hasn’t had a sleeping partner in longer than can remember. It takes a long time for him to succumb to sleep.

~~~~~~

The next morning they move around each other smoothly enough, never quite getting in each other’s way as they get ready for the day.

They walk through the mostly empty halls hand in hand ignoring the staring students they encounter. As they enter the Great Hall Severus groans internally at the sight of Albus sitting at the head table. He’d rather hoped he’d be able to avoid him for a bit longer. He turns to Harry before they part, and Harry pushes himself onto his toes, and gives him a quick kiss. He grabs the boy before he can turn away and gives him a real kiss. The boy smirks like he’d planned that outcome.

“Brat.”

“See you later, love.”

The boy is having too much fun with the endearments.


	3. Chapter 3

“Severus, my boy, if you could come to my office after breakfast?”

“Of course, Albus.”

~~~~~~

Severus gives Harry a look as he leaves the Great Hall, letting him know he isn’t worried, yet. The man will hardly kill him with his bare hands.

~~~~~~

He enters the office and braces himself for recriminations. There’s no friendly chatter, no offer of sweets, it’s an improvement on their usual meetings, so far. Albus gives him a long disappointed look.

“I thought we had come to an agreement, Severus.”

“Mm.”

“The boy must return to his relatives.”

“I have no problem with that.”

“What?”

“If you want him to spend the summer in his relatives house I’ll allow it, _but_ , I will be staying with him. I’ll not leave my husband alone to be locked in a room and starved for months.”

“They don’t starve the boy.”

“Yes, they do. They give him the smallest portion a person can survive on. Possibly even less than a person can survive on. It’s likely he’d have died years ago if he did not have magic flowing through his veins. You are incapable, Albus, of seeing families as capable of true viciousness. Nevertheless, whether you acknowledge it or not, it is there. Have you never had to comfort a child that had been raped by their parent? I _have_.”

“They did not?”

“No, they merely subjected him to every other type of abuse. They kept him confined in a cupboard, his bedroom, for long hours, they worked him like a house elf, denied him meals more often than not. But the worst thing they did to him, Albus, they took his humanity away. They called him nothing but freak or boy until he was sent off to school. For the first few years of his life he had no knowledge of his own name. You think he rushes into danger because he’s brave and compassionate? He does so because he has no self worth! You are lucky beyond _belief_ that the boy didn’t turn to the dark.”

“Whatever you think about my reasonings behind it, he is my husband now, and that, for me, changes _everything_. I will protect him even from you if I have to. You were the one who forced the Vow upon me, this is, in the end, your own doing.”

“You have cost me my only spy, Severus.”

“No. That was _your_ doing. You think I could continue spying if I let the boy go back to that house? I would’ve died.”

“Arrangements could’ve been made. You already said you’re willing to guard the boy within his home, someone else could’ve done so, surely?”

“You wouldn’t listen to reason! You are so convinced that family is important you overlook the harm they can cause. You would never have agreed to someone else guarding the boy, because it would bother his family, and you believe it to be unnecessary. I had no choice but to go behind your back to make sure I could protect the boy, you cannot judge me for that, when the alternative was death. You do want the boy safe do you not?”

“Is the boy truly safe when we now have no one inside the death eaters?”

“You lost me as a spy the moment I learned of the boy’s home life. I have told you this. I would have died if I did not follow the path I did. You do not have to acknowledge reality for it to be real. At any rate, it is done.”

Albus sighs as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Severus doesn’t bother hiding the rolling of his eyes at that, oh so subtle, manipulation.

“Very well, my boy.”

~~~~~~

That evening Severus recounts the meeting to Harry.

“Did he seem surprised by how bad it was?”

“You’re asking if Albus knew and ignored what they were doing. The man knew you weren’t being cared for at that house and lied to me for years about it. Considering I did not see through those lies, I cannot trust my judgement of the depths of his knowledge, but I believe he knew.”

“Figures. It doesn’t really matter. I doubt I’ll be going back there and if I do I’ll have you protecting me.”

“I wonder what you would’ve thought a month ago if someone told you you’d be happy at the prospect of having my company?”

“I’d have thought they were crazy, unless they clarified that I’d be having your company at the Dursley’s. I mean you are pretty terrifying. I’d love to see you put them in their place.”

“Indeed, Tuney would be thrilled to see me again, I’m sure.”

“Tuney?”

Severus watches the boy laugh. Delighted to be seeing it. These past few days have been spent discussing unpleasant subjects and worrying about carrying off their plans. The boy needs to destress a little.

“How have your friends been taking the news?”

“Hermione dragged us off and demanded we hash things out. I told them everything. They took it surprisingly well. Neither of them have a problem with my being gay or even liking you. I was shocked that Ron took it so well. I really thought he’d never be able to accept my being with you. He hates Slytherins so much I’ve never dared tell him the hat wanted to put me there.”

“What?”

Severus is so shocked for a moment he almost misses how amused the brat is at his expense. He doesn’t even know why he’s shocked. Slytherin has always received a disproportionate number of abused children.

“Yeah, Malfoy was a jerk on the train, and he reminds me of my cousin, so I didn’t want to be in Slytherin with him.”

“Draco will be horrified to learn he’s the reason Slytherin missed out on having The Boy Who Lived.”

“Ugh, don’t call me that, please.”

“Whatever you say, dear.”

~~~~~~

Later that evening Severus finds himself watching Harry struggle to write a letter to his dogfather.

“Anything I can help with?”

Harry glances up at him looking sheepish.

“I don’t know how he’s going to react if I tell him the truth. That, while I don’t love you right now, I very well might in the future.”

“You could always wait to tell him later.”

“It’s tempting. But it’s also tempting not to tell him it started as a ruse at all. If he can’t accept you for my sake I’d rather know sooner than later.”

“As much as I loathe the man, I don’t want to cost you people you care about. If there is something I can do..”

“I’ll let you know. Thanks.”

Severus goes back to his marking, but keeps finding himself glancing at the boy in spite of himself. His husband. He still hasn’t wrapped his head around it.

~~~~~~

It isn’t until that weekend that Severus receives the visit he’s been anticipating.

“Lucius.”

“Severus, is your husband in?”

“No.”

“I see, well, I shall have to wait and congratulate him personally later. For now, congratulations, my friend, truly. He is a rather pretty little thing.”

“Indeed. Thank you Lucius, would you like a drink?”

“I think we’re going to need one, don’t you?”

“Not in the mood to dance around the subject?”

“Severus, I consider myself lucky to be alive, I was in the room when he saw the article. Pettigrew wasn’t so lucky.”

“The rat’s dead? Pity, I was hoping to finish him myself. How are you doing, Lucius? I hope you aren’t risking yourself to visit.”

“As if I would, I’m quite safe for the next two hours at least. So we have time for you to tell me _everything_. How did you get the boy to agree to this plan? And what exactly is your end goal?”

~~~~~~

“All of this just to keep the boy safe? Yet you tell me you do not care for him.”

He gives Lucius his best glare.

“Yes, yes, the Vow, I know. Somehow I still don’t see it. I know you too well, my old friend. You have feelings for the boy, admit it.”

He continues glaring.

“Have it your way, for now. I’d say invite me to the wedding, but it’s a bit late for that isn’t it?”

He’s going to strangle the man.

“You are enjoying this entirely too much, Lucius. Considering you almost died...”

“I don’t have much hope of surviving this war, Severus, I only wish to ensure that my family does. Let me take my pleasure where I can find it.”

They share a long look and then move onto other subjects. Severus does not give Lucius the satisfaction of admitting his infatuation. Not that he needs to.

~~~~~~

He’s midway through reading about the potion that most resembles what he thinks he’ll need for the first part of the reaction he’s trying to create. One meant to bind with a persons lymph nodes and reverse damage caused by various curses. When Harry comes striding in and ignores the evidence of his preoccupation spread around him.

“Your godson, thanks for warning me about that by the way, would like you to know that his mother is not going to let you escape the Yule celebration just because you have a husband now. Apparently especially because you have a husband now. So you’d best begin resigning yourself to the inevitable. Also his father is planning to ambush you.”

Ah, that explains it. He should’ve known the boy would panic when confronted by his preconceived notions being inaccurate.

“Draco has decided to embrace you as a member of the family then? The ambush happened earlier this morning.”

“Yeah, Draco, still feels weird calling him that, has declared that we’ll have to learn to tolerate one another. He’s, honestly not bad once you realize he’s only pretending to be a prat. Why does he pretend to be a prat though? I didn’t tell him about my almost sorting into Slytherin. If we could, _not_ for a while, that’d be great.”

“Every Slytherin wears a mask. Why he chose that particular one, I have no idea.”

“So what did his father have to say?”

“He called you a pretty little thing. Seemed to think I’d seduced you just for your looks.”

“He what?”

Severus smirks at the boy’s expression.

“Oh don’t look so horrified, the man isn’t going to come onto you, he wouldn’t dare now that you’re mine. He also mentioned that he happened to be in the room when the Dark Lord learned of the news. He almost died. Pettigrew did.”

He watches him closely trying to figure out how Harry feels about Pettigrew’s death. He seems fine for a moment and then his expressions morphs to one of distinct unhappiness.

“We have to kill him.”

Of course. He blames himself for the Dark Lord’s continued existence. He feels guilty for something that isn’t his fault. Gryffindors.

“I don’t think so. He died once. Or at least his body was destroyed utterly and yet he came back. We need another way to take him down without killing him.”

“Like what?”

“Destroy his access to his magic. Take away that, lock him in a padded room so he can’t destroy the body he currently inhabits, and then determine how to kill him for good. That is what I am working on. A poison that would permanently strip him of his magic.”

“Oh. And if we can’t?”

“Then we find another way. There is always another way. An improperly brewed batch of draught of the living death would leave him lying insensate permanently, but it might leave him able to possess others from a distance. Yourself being among those most at risk by way of your connection. So that would be a method to be used only if we had no better options. Destroying his body again would be a temporary solution to our current crisis. However I would prefer a more permanent solution.”

He gets a suspicious look in response and is confused.

“How are you going to test a poison like that? You aren’t going to be using it on Umbridge are you?”

Of course. The boy seems determined to protect the bitch. He’ll never understand that.

“A tempting idea, but I was planning on using prisoners. Don’t look like that. There are a few individuals who have been sentenced to life in Azkaban, if I can perfect a potion that will completely remove their ability to use magic they can be released and allowed to serve out the rest of their sentence doing community service. I imagine they will all jump at the chance to escape the dementors.”

“Oh, that would be great. I don’t like Azkaban existing at all. It serves no purpose to just punish people indefinitely. We should be trying to rehabilitate criminals. Not torture them.”

“I can’t say I disagree.”


	4. Chapter 4

The next few days things slowly begin returning to normal. By that weekend the students are back to avoiding him as usual, no hissed insults, just the usual dirty looks. They’re no doubt still pissed over the massive point loss they incurred this week. Serves the homophobic little bastards right. He keeps receiving gleeful looks from his Slytherins, they don’t have a problem with his orientation. They’re just happy he’s on their side. He almost wishes they were treating him badly. Wishes they weren’t so maligned themselves that they don’t dare alienate an ally.

~~~~~~

That Saturday he wakes at his usual time, looks down on his sleeping husband, wondering if he should wake him. They never discussed it. He should probably let the boy sleep. He’s still having nightmares. He should brew the boy some dreamless sleep. He can’t take it all the time but some uninterrupted sleep is better than none. He decides he will this evening. For now he has papers to grade.

He makes himself some coffee and begins doing just that. About an hour later there’s a knock on the door. He doesn’t recognize it. It could be one of his snakes who hasn’t come to him before...still. He pulls his wand before opening it. He’s glad he did so a moment later when it turns out to be Black.

~~~~~~

“What did you do to my godson, Snivellus?”

He knew this was coming. Harry had warned him he hadn’t told the mutt the truth. He knows he has to stay calm. But he’s not sure he can. He wants to tear the man’s throat out. Wants to...no he can’t keep thinking like that. Calm. He will remain calm.

“Nothing he didn’t ask me to, I assure you. Not that it’s any of your business what I do with my husband, Black.”

Black snarls at him and he raises his wand just a fraction reminding the man how easily he could kill him without even a single word.

“You’re disgusting. I knew that, but I hadn’t realized you were this disgusting. Seducing a boy, Snivellus, really?”

He lowers his wand a fraction. He can’t curse the man. Harry would be unhappy with him if he did. He grits his teeth.

“I don’t care what you think Black, but if you value your relationship with Harry you will watch your words.”

“You may have Harry fooled but we both know you hate him...”

He has had enough of Black’s bullshit to last a lifetime. But Harry will be upset if he wakes to this. He throws the only thing in his face that might stop his tirade.

“Lily.”

“What?”

“I loved her, she was my sister. You really think I could ever hate her son?”

Black looks thrown for a moment but then rallies. Damn it.

“You may have liked his mother but you _hated_ his father!”

“He is not his father’s son.”

The idiot is opening his mouth but he cuts him off again. Speaking in his deadliest voice.

“Harry would sooner cut off his own arm than harm another. He is sweet and kind and I will not have you upset him with your bullshit. Shut. Up. He is sleeping in the next room and so help me Black if you wake him...”

The mutt is taken aback. So much so that he listens. And when he replies he is quieter.

“You care for him? Truly?”

He closes his eyes. As much a confession as any words could be.

“But how? You say you couldn’t hate him but you sure acted like it. _Was_ that an act?”

“You think I could remain a spy if they thought I could befriend the boy and bring him to them? I had to pretend I hated him Black. And he had to hate me. It was the only way to keep him safe.”

Having an honest conversation with the mutt. What is his life coming to?

“So how long have you..? The boy is only fifteen!”

He has no idea how to answer that. Aside from the truth any answer he gives will only enrage the man further.

“A few days.”

He turns toward the doorway startled. Wonders how much the boy heard. Black had better not have upset him.

“Harry, pup, are you alright?”

He watches Black hug his husband. Wants to hex the man for the way he’s looking at him as if he’s shocked the boy is in one piece. Wonders if the man has gone so mad he’s begun believing the rumors he himself started about him being a vampire. The bastard.

“I’m fine, Padfoot. I hope you’ve not been harassing my husband.”

Harry looks at Black suspiciously and then turns to him for confirmation that he’s alright.

“Pup, you can’t really blame me for being concerned. Wait, what did you mean a few days ago?”

Took him long enough. He watches as Harry begins to explain. Raises his wand on instinct when the mutt rounds on him.

“You did this to protect him?”

Before he can reply the mutt whips back around to Harry and demands.

“But why would you agree? It’s not like there was no other way for you to escape those bastards.”

Severus watches Harry close his eyes. He looks pained, no doubt dreading his godfather’s rejection. He wants to curse the man. He grips his wand tighter but lowers it to avoid temptation. 

“He might have died, Sirius, I couldn’t risk that. No. Listen. He might have died and not that long ago that thought would have bothered me because as much as I hated him I didn’t want him dead, but after that conversation when I caught a glimpse of who he _really_ is...I couldn’t let that happen. I care about him Sirius. That’s why I kept the full truth from you. Because I want you to accept this. I _need_ you to accept this. Please, just _try_ , Sirius.”

He sounds so desperate. He knows well the boy has no one else he considers family. Severus decides he _will_ curse the man if he disappoints Harry. 

“Harry, I...I am sorry. I never meant for you to think I wouldn’t accept anyone you cared about. I was only concerned for you. You are only fifteen, I was, I believe understandably, concerned you had been manipulated into this. I would never push you away over your choice, pup. No matter who you were to end up with I would still support you. Unless it was Dumbledore since that man is obviously a bastard. I can’t believe he sent you back to those vermin.”

Severus puts his wand away. He can’t believe the bastard is able to be reasonable. He doesn’t even regret the fact that he’ll have to continue dealing with the man when he sees the happiness on his husband’s face.

~~~~~~

He goes back to his grading while the mutt chats with his husband. He tries to block out their conversation entirely but finds his attention snared against his will occasionally. Such as.

“No we are _not_ having a stag night, Sirius. It isn’t happening.”

Severus snorts at the idea of Harry in a strip club. The boy would never be comfortable in a situation like that. He wrenches his attention back onto his marking. He still has to brew later so he needs to get this done.

~~~~~~

Later that morning he’s in his lab bottling the dreamless sleep when there’s a knock at his door. Minerva. He heads for the door at once. Hoping this is a social visit and not something more annoying.

”That man! Severus I don’t know how you haven’t hexed him with your temper, I almost did so myself.”

“What has the old fool done now?”

“It’s what he hasn’t done that’s the problem. He’s been avoiding me ever since your marriage became public. I finally managed to corner him today and forced an answer out of him or as much of an answer as anyone _can_ get from the man. He knew. Albus knew and did _nothing_...”

Severus tunes out her rant as she slips into cursing in Gaelic. She must be beyond pissed to lose her composure this badly. Not that he blames her. He cuts her off mid-rant.

“Would your memories be enough to see him brought up on charges?”

She startles and then stares at him. Then her eyes harden.

“No. No he was careful not to say anything too damning. The man may be a fool, but he’s not that much of a fool. I cannot believe he allowed a child to be harmed. He insisted the boy must stay with his family. He said something about the boy returning there this summer. He must understand you would never allow that.”

“I am in fact going to be allowing it.”

Minerva goes still and he hurries to explain. He wouldn’t put it past her to curse him right now.

“I will be accompanying him. Albus insists the boy is safer if he stays there for at least part of each summer and if there’s even a chance that that is true then it will be worth the annoyance. I will be there to protect him from the muggles. Harry is looking forward to seeing them put in their place.”

“Good, curse them for me then, aye?”

He merely smirks at her.

~~~~~~

Later that evening he’s busy working on the new potion when he hears the door open. He’s so focused on his current task he doesn’t bother acknowledging Harry’s arrival. Until he realizes the boy is standing next to him.

“Harry, did you need something?”

“I need you to eat regular meals. Did you eat dinner?”

It can’t be that late already? He checks the time. Damn.

“No, I’ve been distracted I didn’t realize the time.”

Harry hands him a plate. He’s shocked for a moment that the boy thought to do this for him. The boy smiles at him looking pleased with himself.

“I thought as much.”

“Thank you, Harry. I appreciate it.”

“I may be useless with potions but I’ll do what I can to help you.”

Harry kisses him before turning to walk away. He watches him leave thinking to himself that he may just have to thank Albus one of these days for coercing him into that Vow.

~~~~~~

The next morning he gets up, makes coffee, and immediately begins working on his project again. He works steadily for a while before he’s interrupted.

“I take it you haven’t had breakfast? I don’t know why I’m even asking. I’ll go get something from the kitchens, any requests?”

He shakes his head.

“That really isn’t necessary, Harry.”

Harry gives him an amused look.

“You’ll do better work with a meal in you, trust me.”

He nods, knowing that he’s right. He just doesn’t want to waste a single moment. The boy’s life, along with many others, depend on this.

“The elves know what I like. Thank you, Harry.”

The boy smiles at him lopsidedly.

“I don’t know how you ever survived without me.”

He knows the boy is joking but he shakes his head. He stands up and pulls the boy into a heated kiss.

“I truly don’t know.”

Harry gives him a fond look before he leaves to go get them breakfast.

~~~~~~

They soon resume their occlumency lessons. The boy needs to learn to protect his mind. They’d only stopped them temporarily because they were busy planning. He’s been dreading this, he knows how painful it is for the boy and he hates to inflict it on him. If only there was another way. He waits for the boy to stand again. Gives him no warning.

“Legilimens.”

He’s assaulted by the boy’s memories. He doesn’t understand. No matter how incapable the boy is he should be able to do better than this. Something must be wrong. He cancels the spell and watches him struggle to his feet, mind racing. Something that would affect the mind in this manner. He can’t think of a single curse or potion that fits. There must be _something_ though. No one’s mind is this open naturally. Harry is standing there looking confused. He gives him an apologetic look.

“I need to go deeper, examine your mind further. Something is very wrong. I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.”

“I trust you, Severus. Do it.”

Harry gives him a steely look and nods. He casts the spell once again. This time he pushes past the flood of memories. He hears the boy’s pained cry in the back of his mind.He ignores it. He begins searching out the edges and contours of his mind. It’s difficult since the boy is not a master occlumens, his mind is disorganized, so much so that he almost misses it. Fuck. He pulls out and stares at the boy where he has collapsed once again. Closes his eyes and focuses on just breathing. They can fix this. He knows they can. There is always a way. He refuses to countenance the idea there might not be.

He goes over to Harry who is just sitting up and kneels next to him on the floor.

“We will no longer be having occlumency lessons. It would be a waste of time. Time which will need to be spent elsewhere.”

The boy already looks worried and then when he sees the no doubt horrified expression on his face, truly disturbed.

“Why? What did you find?”

He pulls the boy close and wraps his arms around him. Breathes the words in barely more than a whisper.

“You have a parasite living inside you.”

The boy stiffens and he rushes to reassure him as best he can.

“I don’t think it can harm you or it would have done so by now. It has weakened your mind to outside influence but otherwise I believe you to be unharmed.”

“But what is it?”

“It is one of the few pieces of magic that is universally reviled. A soul anchor, also known as a horcrux, among other names. You have a piece of the Dark Lord’s soul inside you. There has never been a human horcrux before that I am aware of, I do not know if there is a way to remove it in existence. If there is not I will create one.”

Harry pulls back just far enough to see his face. He’s glad the boy hasn’t tried to escape his arms. He doesn’t think he could stand to let him go right now.

“If it can’t be removed?”

Of course the boy would ask the one question he doesn’t want him to know the answer to.

“As long as it exists the Dark Lord cannot die.”

Harry pales dramatically.

“So if it can’t be removed? I would have to die to kill him?”

He squeezes the boy tighter than he probably should.

“I will _not_ allow it. We will find a way to remove it. If we cannot, we continue with the current plan. If he can be rendered magicless and locked away, we can wait till you die of old age and someone else can kill him, if there are no better options. You do not _have_ to die. And regardless I will not allow it. Swear to me that you won’t put yourself at risk or harm yourself because of this.”

The boy hesitates and he goes cold. And then angry.

“ _Swear_.”

The boy gets a mulish look for a moment and then his face morphs into one of understanding and sadness.

“I know you care about me Severus but there are other people to think about here.”

He’s going to strangle him. No. He’s going to lock _him_ in a padded room. He opens his mouth to rant at the stubborn boy but all that comes out is a whisper.

“Harry...”

He abandons trying to reason with the boy using words. He kisses him. He pours everything into the kiss. Every single thing he feels for the brat. He pulls back, closes his eyes, and waits.

“I swear, Severus. I won’t harm myself or put myself at risk. We’ll go with your plan.”

He feels a touch to his cheek and opens his eyes to see the boy looking impossibly fond.

“I care about you too, you know.”

~~~~~~

They spend the rest of that night together. Harry working on his schoolwork, while he works feverishly on the potion. He can’t concentrate on the newest problem at the moment, he’ll need a new source of information on the subject. Perhaps the Black library? He can’t believe he’s even considering it. It wasn’t long ago he’d have sooner killed the man than spoken to him. But for Harry, he’s not sure there is something he wouldn’t do. He tries to tell himself it’s only because of the Vow, but he no longer believes it. He’s startled out of his thoughts by Harry saying.

“His snake is a horcrux too.”

Severus has no idea how the boy could know...

“His snake is a horcrux too. That’s why I can sometimes see through her eyes. And Dumbledore knows. That’s why he won’t look at me. But he started that before I, well not before I’d ever done it before, but I don’t think he knew about that dream. He must have known already. Do you think he knew since I was a baby? Is that why he doesn’t care about leaving me with the Dursleys ‘cause I have to die anyway?”

“You do _not_ have to die.”

He snarls the words unable to believe that they are already having to have this argument again. The boy turns to look at him, looking annoyed.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean _he_ thinks I have to die so he doesn’t care if I’m starved and locked in a cupboard. He had to have known, right?”

Severus goes thoughtful at that. He has a point.

“It is likely he does yes. Which complicates matters. He may very well have decided that your death is necessary. While I find it hard to believe he’d orchestrate your death...it is possible. We will have to treat him as an enemy. You must never make eye contact with him again. If you need to seem as if you are, stare at the bridge of his nose. Do not let him in your mind. The man is more dangerous than the Dark Lord in his own way.”

“As far as the snake goes...it is likely he has several other soul anchors. They will all have to be located and destroyed before he can be killed. So you see, your death would, at the moment, be pointless. We’re going to have quite the task on our hands finding them.”

“How will we even know if we’ve found them all?”

Severus gives him a grim look.

“We may never know for sure.”

“But then how can we..?”

He cuts the boy off.

“There is only so much we can do, Harry. Once I have stripped him of his magic it is possible his occlumency barriers will be lost as well, if that happens I can pluck the information we need from his mind. But it is also possible that he will retain them. I don’t know if I _can_ breach his barriers no matter how much force I bring to bear. I am a skilled legilimens but he is a skilled occlumens. I have never attempted breaching them before because that would be suicide. We shall have to wait and see.”

Harry looks unhappy but he nods. Severus understands, he isn’t happy about this either, still...

“At least we now know how he has kept himself alive. It is more than we had before.”

“Yeah, I just, I’ve been keeping myself going by telling myself it’s only temporary. I thought eventually he’d die, the war would end, and I could move on with my life. Now it turns out he won’t ever die while I’m alive. I’ll always have the fear that he might return.”

“But we don’t know that. It may be that I can remove the parasite from you without harming you in the process. It may be that we will eliminate the threat entirely while you yet live. Nothing is certain at the moment, Harry.”

Harry smiles and then leans into his side.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Severus. I’m so glad I have you by my side.”

Severus wraps him in his arms and places his chin on his head. Whispers into his hair.

“I feel much the same, brat.”


	5. Chapter 5

That night he gives the boy a dose of dreamless sleep. The look of joy on his face when he explains what the potion is...he wishes someone were to blame for the boy’s sleeplessness, so he could strangle them. The boy pulls him into a gentle kiss, then drinks it down eagerly, and quickly falls into a restful sleep. He watches him for a moment, glad to have been able to do this much. If only the horcrux problem could be solved so easily. He pushes aside the worry that it won’t be solved at all. He will find a way. He will.

~~~~~~

The next day he deals more harshly than he usually does with his students. He attempts to rein in his temper to no avail. He doesn’t have any patience for fruitlessly trying to force knowledge into their heads when he could be researching horcruxes. He cannot wait until this evening. He shakes his head, him being anxious to speak to Black, who would ever have seen this coming?

~~~~~~

He notices Harry looking particularly grim during lunch and pulls him aside after.

“What is the matter?”

“Nothing, or at least nothing new. Just not sure how to tell my friends about the _thing_ inside me.”

He wraps the boy in his arms, suspecting he needs the comfort as much as he does.

“This will not change their opinion of you, or if it does, they are fools. It has been there since you were an infant, if it was going to affect you it would have long since done so. Do not fret about their reaction, Harry. You are almost certainly worrying for nothing.”

“Even if they don’t reject me or whatever, they’re going to worry. I don’t know if I should put this on them, but I hate keeping it from them too. Hermione will figure out something is wrong eventually anyway.”

“You could tell them only that there is a problem, if they are truly your friends they will respect your decision to keep the details private.”

Harry nods slowly and then leans up and kisses him.

“Thanks, Severus. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Mm. After I have spoken to the mutt.”

“You sure you don’t want me there?”

“The man will undoubtedly take the news badly. Having you there would only serve to increase his agitation. I will be fine, brat.”

He gives the boy one last kiss before sending him off to his next class.

~~~~~~

That evening he strides down the lawn toward the edge of the wards, clearing his mind of all emotions, he needs a clear head for this. He crosses the wards and disapparates.

He knocks on the door of the decrepit old townhouse, then waits. The elf opens it, muttering angrily. He gives him a nod and then walks past, not bothering to try and finagle Black’s location out of him. He tracks him down in the kitchen and cuts off his exclamation of surprise and concern.

“Harry is fine.”

Technically true.

“I need information, I am hoping it can be found within the library here.”

The man looks confused. Then annoyed.

“It’s hidden, my parents never let me enter because I wouldn’t act the proper heir and do whatever they told me. I don’t know how to find it.”

Of course the mutt would prove just as useless as always.

“Nevertheless I _need_ information. Do you know what a horcrux is?”

The man shakes his head.

“It is also known as a soul anchor, perhaps you know it by that name?”

The man nods, looking wary.

“Why would you need to look into _those_?”

He sighs. He’s not sure this is the wisest course of action...

“Harry is one.”

“You said he was fine?!”

“He _is_. He has been one since he was fifteen months old, Black.”

“Fuck. _No_.”

He nods sharply.

“I need to know if it can be removed or if we will have to incapacitate _him_ for the rest of Harry’s life. We believe Albus knows, so you must consider him a threat to Harry’s life. He is as good as our enemy now.”

The man curls in on himself for a moment, then just when he’s beginning to give up on the man being of any help whatsoever, he straitens up, looking determined.

“Then we will find that fucking library. I won’t allow Harry to continue harboring _that_. You’re sure it isn’t harming him?”

“I cannot be entirely certain but I do not believe it can harm him. It has weakened his mental defenses but I believe that to be the extent of it’s influence on him.”

“Fuck. I was really hoping for a yes. We’ll worry about that later either way. For now we have a library to locate. How good are you with scrying spells?”

He gives the man a raised eyebrow.

“Smug git. Fine. I’ve always been terrible at them. That’s not why I haven’t found the library though, didn’t really have a reason to try before now. Most of those books are not something I would ever want to read.”

“Unfortunately we’ll be reading a great deal of them regardless.”

“Yeah.”

The man summons a bowl, fills it with water, then summons a bottle of ink and adds a few drops. He stirs the water with a spell and it quickly turns black. Severus holds out his wand and the man nods, holding his hand over the bowl. Black slices a line down his palm, and lets a few drops of blood fall into the bowl, he begins casting the necessary spell immediately. The water trembles, forming patterns and then reforming, refusing to settle. He knows of only one spell which would cause such interference.

“I need to speak to your elf. Only he can lead us to the library.”

Black grimaces, but nods, then yells for the elf. He vanishes the bowlful of inky water while they wait for the elf to answer his summons. He takes his dear sweet time about it.

“Master?”

The elf looks suspiciously at them both. He cuts off the mutt before he can open his mouth and make this harder than it has to be.

“We need access to the library. I know you are the only one who can grant us such. What would you have of us in return?”

“He’s my elf, you don’t have to bargain with him! He has to do whatever I order him to.”

“Not in this case. It is a powerful charm which has been placed upon both him and the library. He has to give us the information of his own volition.”

He stares the old elf down, waiting for his decision. He seems to be having difficulty deciding if he can be trusted.

“Whatever it is you may be sure I will do my utmost to fulfill it if I can. We need the information contained within the library quite badly.”

“That’s not how you negotiate, Snape. What are you thinking?”

He ignores the man, focusing instead on the elf, who seems to be on the edge of agreeing. He watches, breath held, as the elf reaches inside the rags he’s wearing pulling out a locket on a chain. He narrows his eyes as the elf holds it out to him.

“Destroy it and Kreacher will help you.”

“Just that?”

The elf nods and hesitantly hands over the necklace. He levitates it off the elf’s hand, unwilling to risk touching a potentially cursed item, and places it on the table. He begins casting detection spells on it. He stills completely when he sees the results.

“Where did you get this?”

“Master Regulus be giving it to me. Master Regulus be wanting it destroyed.”

Fuck. He _did_ turn traitor. But why would the Dark Lord not collect his horcrux?

“What happened after he gave you this?”

“Master Regulus died.”

The old elf looks like he might cry. He gently coaxes the story out him, once the elf has finished he turns and glares at the mutt.

“You need to treat him better.”

“What the hell? Where do you get off...and you didn’t have a problem with his treatment a moment ago.”

He snarls at the man and steps toward him, gratified to see him take an involuntary step back in response.

“He has just brought us one step closer to killing the Dark Lord. It is a horcrux, you fool. He should be treated with respect regardless, he is a sentient being. In case it has escaped your notice.”

He turns away, he cares not for whatever paltry excuse the man would try to defend himself with.

“I do not know how to destroy this as of now, there should be books on the subject in the library, I know that is not ideal, but...I swear on my magic I will do everything in my power to see the locket destroyed.”

The elf’s eyes widen and he nods slowly. Then extends his hand, palm up. He nods gratefully and touches a single finger to the elf’s palm, he blinks as the information flashes through his mind.

“Thank you, Kreacher. You have been most helpful.”

He strides from the room, and heads for the library, hidden behind an enchantment in the guest bathroom of all places. Clever. He modifies the wards one by one until they have all been tweaked to allow him entry. Then opens the now visible door, and groans. Bloody hell, why didn’t it occur to him that it might be massive? He thought it was a carefully curated selection of the darkest of dark arts books, not _this_. He stares up and farther up, six floors, and each looking to contain tens of thousands of books. They could search for months and not find the ones they need. He hears a gasp behind him.

“Fuck me. The last time I came in here it was only one floor. Did you disable some ward that hid the others?”

He hums a noncommittal noise. If he did he’s unaware. He shakes his head. There’s no point worrying about the difficulty of the task. They need to get started.

“Call Kreacher and have him help, we’re going to need it.”

He stalks into the room and begins clearing away the decades of dust so he can scan the titles.

~~~~~~

By the time he calls it for the night, they have checked exactly one third of the first floor, and it only went that quickly because several bookcases dealt only in Herbology. He heads back to Hogwarts, the mutt assuring him he’ll keep looking while he’s stuck teaching. Now he finds himself wishing Albus had fired him for defying him. He wonders if he shouldn’t quit, but he can’t risk that bitch replacing him with another like herself. He can’t abandon his Slytherins in that manner.

He enter his quarters to find his husband asleep on the couch, seemingly having waited up for him, or tried at any rate. He shakes his head, then lifts the boy and carries him to their bed, smiling when the boy burrows into his arms. He’s glad the boy thought to change earlier, or he’d have been sleeping in his uniform. He tucks Harry in and readies himself for bed.

He lays there for longer than usual, unable to sleep for the worries plaguing his mind. Three, they know of three horcruxes so far. But how many more are there?

~~~~~~

He wakes to an empty bed. He gets up to go find his husband and reassure himself that the boy is fine. He assumes he only stayed up in the hope of receiving news, but it could very well be that he has news of his own. He hopes desperately that there isn’t another crisis already. He’s not sure how much more he can take.

He finds him sitting on the couch, perusing a book on mind altering potions. He raises his eyebrows at the boy when he looks up. Harry gives him a sheepish look. Then explains their plan for dealing with Umbridge.

He sighs.

“No. That isn’t a terrible start to a plan, but there is too much risk of an innocent being harmed. A hallucinogen is not the answer. What you need is something more subtle and also more controlled as to it’s possible outcome.”

He considers for a moment and then fetches a book on combining potions with certain dark curses.

“This book should have what you need. You may do the research yourself, I’m not sure without checking which option would best serve you, and I do have other more important concerns to be dealing with at the moment. Are you sure I can’t just poison her and be done with it?”

His husband gives him an unamused look and he sighs again.

“Fine. But whatever you decide you will run it by me first. We don’t want her harming any more students than she already has. Now, why did you wait up for me last night?”

“I was hoping for good news, or news at all, but also...we realized, well Hermione realized, the diary was a horcrux. He said, diary Tom, that Dumbledore had been run out of Hogwarts by the mere memory of him. He had to have been a horcrux right?”

He sucks in a sharp breath.

“How did you destroy it?”

“Stabbed it with a basilisk fang. Why? If you’re thinking that would work for me, I did get stabbed as well and I’m still a horcrux.”

“You what?”

The boy explains rapidly, seemingly regretting having brought it up. He could strangle Albus with his bare hands. He cannot believe the man brushed _this_ under the carpet. He’s going to tell Minerva and watch her give the man hell.

We will be discussing this more later. You have a disturbing attitude toward almost dying. But it can wait. We have come into possession of another horcrux, which added to the diary, brings us to four of which we know. A rather worrying number, I find it impossible to believe we just so happened to discover every horcrux he knowingly made. I had thought there might be three that he made knowingly as well as yourself, three is a powerful magical number but now...seven. It is almost certain that he would have set out to make seven.”

“Fuck.”

“Indeed. At least we will soon have destroyed another, now that I know how. I was unable to locate a book describing them as of yet. The Black library is beyond even it’s reputation. It may very well take months to locate what we need.”

His husband groans. He gives him a commiserating look in response.

“How did you find another one already though?”

“Your godfather’s elf, Kreacher, had it in his possession.”

He quickly explains what he knows, and now suspects, of the life of Regulus Black. When he finishes the boy glances at the time and declares.

“It’s getting late we should head down to breakfast, love.”

He shakes his head at the brat’s continuing to call him that, even in private now. He ignores the boy’s smile and heads for the door.

“Well then, shall we?”

Harry jumps up, grabs his bag, and takes his hand before they leave. He pulls the boy in and kisses him fiercely, leaving him breathless, then drags him out of their quarters. They walk to the Great Hall together, neither bothering to speak.

~~~~~~

That evening the boy insists on coming with him to Grimmauld. He doesn’t bother trying to argue, while it may be a risk with Umbridge watching for rule breaking, the boy does have the cloak, and he could use the help.

He has to modify the wards to allow the boy’s entry and then watches amused as the boy gets his first glimpse.

“Shit, I see what you mean. That is a lot of books.”

The boy shakes himself.

“Well, best get started.”

“Indeed.”

~~~~~~

They’re just moving up to the second floor having verified the first has nothing of relevance, when they hear a shout.

“Severus! Sirius! I found something.”

He shares a look of concern with the boy’s godfather, he wasn’t supposed to wander off alone. He can’t believe they didn’t notice his absence before. They both rush up the stairs to the topmost floor. He growls at his husband.

“How long have you been up here? And why are you up here?”

“Well, Sirius said that the upper floors had been hidden from him before so it just made sense for the darker books to be up here. And I was right. Look.”

Harry gently turns the old and delicate book so they can read it. The three of them pour over the entry together. Black is the first to speak.

“That’s not much help. It doesn’t say anything about being able to detect one, or make any mention of the possibility of a person being a horcrux, much less how to remove one from someone.”

While he can’t argue with that...

“The part detailing the negative repercussions is enlightening however. He must not have had this information or he would never have made a single one. Which means he acquired the knowledge from another source.”

Harry finally speaks up.

“But the part about destroying them, what is cursed fire anyway?”

He glares at the boy.

“It is nowadays known as fiendfyre. It is not a curse to be trifled with. It has killed many who thought they could control it, only to learn otherwise in a most gruesome fashion.”

The boy winces and says playfully.

“Ah, So basilisk venom is the better option?”

“Quite.”

Harry nods then gets up apparently planning to look for more books, Severus stops him with a hand on his arm.

“We should quit for tonight. We both have classes in the morning. Your godfather will, I’m sure, continue looking in this section while we are busy tomorrow. Hopefully we will know more soon.”

Harry opens his mouth to argue, he starts to argue back but Black beats him to it.

“He’s right, pup. It won’t do anyone any good if you burn yourself out overnight. We still have time. Go, get some sleep, I’ll keep looking some more tonight and then I’ll look tomorrow while you’re in class. Time you get here again tomorrow evening I may just have found something. Go on, and goodnight.”

Harry sighs, then nods, and he pulls the boy toward the stairs before he can turn argumentative again.


End file.
